Two chiefs refuse to explain chase policies

Friday

Feb 1, 2013 at 6:00 AMFeb 3, 2013 at 10:25 PM

Police chiefs in Uxbridge and Northbridge have declined to provide the Telegram & Gazette with copies of their policies governing when to chase suspects fleeing in vehicles. The newspaper requested the policies under the state Public Records Law earlier this month after officers from both departments chased a teenager driving a stolen SUV until he crashed. The young man driving the SUV was killed in the crash.

By Thomas Caywood TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Police chiefs in Uxbridge and Northbridge have declined to provide the Telegram & Gazette with copies of their policies governing when to chase suspects fleeing in vehicles, saying disclosure of the documents could aid criminals.

The newspaper requested the policies under the state Public Records Law earlier this month after officers from both departments chased a Rhode Island teenager driving a stolen SUV until, after several near accidents, he crashed headlong into a pickup truck, seriously injuring an Uxbridge man behind the wheel.

The young man driving the SUV, 17-year-old Rome-Alyxander P. Ives of Providence, was killed in the crash.

In a recording of police radio broadcasts from the chase on Route 122 southbound, which began in Northbridge about 3 p.m. on Jan. 11, pursuing officers can be heard warning that, “He's almost lost it a number of times,” and, later in the center of Uxbridge, “He almost hit a car head on.”

Less than a minute later, the fleeing SUV did hit another vehicle head on, trapping Anthony Southwick, 30, in his mangled Toyota pickup. It took firefighters working with hydraulic cutting tools about an hour to free Mr. Southwick, who spent the next week in the hospital with serious injuries.

Mr. Southwick, who is now home recuperating, declined to be interviewed about the crash and police actions that day on the advice of his lawyer.

Mr. Ives, who was a senior at Hope High School in Providence, was buried in Rhode Island last weekend.

While a spokesman for Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. said at the time of the crash that the pursuit unfolded at speeds of between 30 mph and 40 mph, witnesses estimated the speed of the chase along Route 122 southbound at 50 mph or faster at times.

An officer can be heard on the police radio recording early in the chase putting the speed of the pursuit at 55 mph. The SUV and police cruisers covered the roughly 6 miles from Rockdale in Northbridge to the location of the crash in Uxbridge, 128 South Main St., in about 7 minutes, according to the recording.

In declining to provide his department's pursuit policy, Northbridge Police Chief Walter J. Warchol likened the guidelines governing when officers are permitted to chase fleeing cars to the department's procedures for responding to bank robberies or school shootings.

“It is my opinion that it is in the best interest of public safety not to release these types of policies, and I feel that they are exempt from the Public Records Law,” Chief Warchol said.

Uxbridge Police Chief Peter B. Emerick voiced a similar concern, saying, “I believe the risk of disclosure would be detrimental to public safety should the information be used for criminal intent.”

Advocates of open government and police pursuit reform maintain, on the other hand, that keeping the policies secret deprives the public, which is put at risk in high-speed police chases, from evaluating whether the policies are followed and adequate to protect innocent motorists from injury.

Jonathan Farris, chairman of PursuitSAFETY, a nonprofit group advocating for safe police driving and stricter pursuit guidelines, said he has never heard of a city or town refusing to release its policy.

“That makes no sense whatsoever. It's not like criminals read pursuit policies ahead of time and decide which places to go commit crimes,” Mr. Farris said. “We request these policies all the time and many places put them right online so you don't even have to request it.”

The Massachusetts State Police and Boston Police departments both have made their pursuit policies public, with the latter agency posting it on the city of Boston's website.

Those policies and the model pursuit policy provided by the International Association of Chiefs of Police don't set specific trigger circumstances during which a pursuit should be broken off — the kind of information that might be of use to criminals — but rather provide a generic framework to govern when the risk to public safety posed by a high-speed police chase is warranted.

The Boston policy specifically rules out driving a stolen vehicle as justification for a pursuit.

“It is hard to imagine that the general guidelines in a pursuit policy could effectively be used by criminals to avoid pursuit, given that such policies can ask the officer to consider generalities such as the road and weather conditions,” said Rosanna Cavanagh, executive director of the New England First Amendment Coalition.

The Telegram & Gazette has appealed the Northbridge and Uxbridge records request denials to state Supervisor of Public Records Shawn A. Williams.

Mr. Farris, whose son was killed in 2007 while riding in a taxi in Somerville during a state police pursuit of another driver, asked that officers think twice before stepping on the accelerator.

“We want to just put a face on this for police. If all they think about is stopping that stolen car, that's when somebody gets killed,” he said. “I want them to think about my kid, their kid. How would they feel if their kids were out on that road? It's not worth it to stop a stolen car.”